Rapping H1N1 Doctor

This Newsmaker proves you can make fighting the H1N1 flu fun. The New York physician who won the government's contest to create the best public service ad for swine flu prevention talks about his ad.

BROWN: I’m going to ask you about the video but let me start with a little bit of news on the swine flu front that we had over the last couple of days: The results of the H1N1 vaccine trials for children. They’ve also come up with guidelines that are a little bit different depending on the ages of your children.

DR. JOHN CLARKE, H1N1 FLU AD CREATOR: Yes, the cut-off age is 9 years. What they’re saying is children ages 6 months to 9 years should get two doses, whereas those 10 to 17 should get only one and adults also would get one.

BROWN: You have two kids. One is 1 year old and one is 3 ½ years old. Are you going to get your kids vaccinated?

CLARKE: Yes. I have concerns because the group that’s getting hit the hardest are those ages 5 to 24. So younger people are getting it. My son is in day care. This kind of thing runs rampant in day care. So I’m going to definitely get it myself, my wife, and also the children.

BROWN: You’ve got to understand, though, the concerns some parents have, given that this is being fast tracked. We know it’s not going through the same amount of testing that previous vaccines have had.

CLARKE: And I have concerns myself. Any time you see a new therapy or treatment you have to have concerns because it’s new. But the thing is – the flu season is here. So it’s a case where you have to look at the risk versus the benefits. We’ve seen in the spring that the swine flu did kill a lot of people, as well as made people sick. So that’s one of the issues where you have to say, OK, is the risk of getting the vaccine greater than the risk of getting the flu?

BROWN: We’ve all heard the tips for what we’re supposed to do in the meantime: Wash your hands, sneeze into your sleeve. You actually had one about clipping your kids’ fingernails. I’d never heard before.

CLARKE: Right. I also recommend that because often germs will harbor under the nails. So what I recommend is parents also clip their children’s nails. That way you get rid of that aspect as well.

BROWN: OK, enough about your medical advice. Where did this video idea come from?

CLARKE: I began writing rap songs on medical topics in 1997. I’ve addressed topics from asthma to HIV, sickle cell, a whole number. And in May, my wife, she’s a nurse, she actually suggested that I address swine flu. I created the rap and found out about the contest by accident. I was looking at the CDC’s Web site to find if I could submit the song as a PSA and stumbled upon the video contest and then I called my cousin. We shot it and submitted it.

BROWN: So, I mean, and the idea being you reach an audience that would never hear about this stuff otherwise, probably.

CLARKE: Right, because the age group of 5 to 24 years of age. That’s the group that’s having the highest rate of swine flu. It’s the perfect medium to really reach them.

BROWN: It’s so cool. I’ve got to say, when I saw it, I just loved it.

CLARKE: Thank you.